Dove has done it again.

The Unilever-owned beauty brand has recently focused on releasing inspirational adverts which advocate the notion that beauty stretches far deeper than just physical appearance [click here to see a few examples], but they have once again missed the mark.

Over the weekend, Dove was forced to issue an apology after it released an advert which, in essence, showed a black woman turning into a white woman after using a Dove product.

Snapshots of the campaign, which has since been removed from Facebook, was shared by American makeup artist Naomi Blak.

She said that “Dove’s marketing team should have known better and that the tone deafness in these companies makes no sense,” reports The Guardian.

Take a look at the ad:

You don’t need to be a genius to spot that boo boo.

Here’s the weak apology from Dove:

“As a part of a campaign for Dove body wash, a three-second video clip was posted to the US Facebook page.

“This did not represent the diversity of real beauty which is something Dove is passionate about and is core to our beliefs, and it should not have happened.

“We have removed the post and have not published any other related content. We apologise deeply and sincerely for the offence that it has caused.”

This isn’t the first time Dove has blindly shared an advert that comes across as racist. You may remember back in 2011, Dove’s before-and-after advert charted the transition of a black woman to a white woman after using its body wash (below right):

At the time, the company explained how all woman in the ad were an example of “after”, and the advert was misleading.

You would hope that a brand like Dove would have by now woken up to how colourism – discrimination based on the shade / colour of your skin – is a problem in the world.

[source:theguardian]